Mornats

I've just been playing around with the demos of that VRM box and I'm just watching a video or two. Sounds convincing but is it truly useful or just a toy/marketing ploy?

That was really good Scott, cheers! I don't think many people cover the details of recording like you have and it's one of the areas I'm trying to find help with. I'm looking forward to your next lesson on mixing for sure.

I did a mini guide here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176553-mini-guide-to-starter-gear-for-recording-cheaply/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176553-mini-guide-to-starter-gear-for-recording-cheaply/[/url] Some links may be a little out of date. Skol mentioned a 25 key midi keyboard but when I first started looking, I was advised to jump to a 49 key. It was good advice as I'm just starting to grow out of it now! I'm looking at a 61 key... so a 49er will definitely last longer. But it all depends on whether you're trying to record several octaves at once. I never thought I would be but ended doing just that. Also, Mike Senior (author of the highly recommended Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio book) lists a whole load of free, and affordable VST plugins on his site: [url="http://cambridge-mt.com/ms-intro.htm"]http://cambridge-mt.com/ms-intro.htm[/url]. Click through each of the book sections at the top and he'll recommend EQ, compressor, limiter plugins and loads more. He's a big fan of Reaper as a DAW too (as am I). Also check out this thread for setting up live recording stuff on the cheap: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176980-recording-equipment-on-budget/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176980-recording-equipment-on-budget/[/url] Good luck and hope to see an entry in the monthly composition challenge at some point!

[quote name='bh2' timestamp='1374178796' post='2146240'] We all bought fenders... didn't we? [/quote] Nope

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1374163607' post='2146003'] Just playing devils advoctae really but, where are the components made for Ashdown and where are they assembled? Barefaced I know are constructed here but where are the drivers made and where does the wood, grilles and coatings come from? [/quote] The Dark Lord has in his signature that he's got an Ashdown MiBass head which I believe is made in China (as was my combo and cab), hence my suggestion of the Tanglewaters. In all this made in Britain/USA/etc. vs. China thing do remember that if you're a fan of any Apple products, then they're cheaply made in China too. So use that as your benchmark before knocking Chinese-made instruments (not that anyone has done of course, I'm just partly teasing with all this). If a MacBook Pro is good enough for serious musicians, then so is a Tanglewater hehe.

There's Tom Waghorn in Bristol: http://www.waghornguitars.com/

Made in Britain or British company? Either way, as already suggested Overwater, or the Overwaters by Tanglewood for the cheaper Chinese made ones.

How thick would a basstrap have to be in the corner? Or, in other words, if I were to badger a mate into making some for me, what size should I be aiming for? If they can be portable, I can see them being much more practical. Also, I'll take a pic of one corner of my room which isn't actually a corner, it goes back into a cubbyhole... I wonder if I'd need a basstrap here.

I know, we have to write a song a day!

Cool, so I guess that listening to good songs, that I think sound well produced and are typical of the sound I'm aiming for, on my headphones and monitors is a good thing (I've just started to do this critically). So once I get used to what that's showing me I can start to aim for that with my mixes.

Obviously I'm not knocking any of the advice that anyone, particularly 51m0n, is giving! I just do think that big changes to rooms may put a lot of people off from getting a good mixing environment.

I'm not sure if anyone else is reading this and thinking the same thing, so I'll ask the question anyway. So, I'm still looking at my new desk placement and thinking hey, that's quite a change to my room, maybe I'll get used to it. Now I'm looking at buying (sorry, no DIY for me) big bass traps to fit in the corners. Bye-bye living room, hello recording room. Now that's quite a big change. I know it's needed to get good results and yeah, I live on my own for now but these are big changes to make to the most important room in your house. How many of us are thinking, sod it, that's too much? I'm sure some people are getting put off a little and I'm sure more of us just won't get away with even moving a desk around. So the question, partly for my benefit and partly for anyone else thinking the same and also partly playing devil's advocate is this: What's the minimum we can do to mix with any sort of decent results that doesn't involve rebuilding a whole room around it? I mean, I play bass in a band but I haven't got a fully kitted out rehearsal room and a PA system where my kitchen used to be. I've heard recordings from people who have a similar, if not worse monitoring set up than me and their tracks sounds way better than mine. My fear is that I'll spend a lot of money reshaping my living room so that it's purpose as a living room is secondary and that my mixes might still sound muddy and crap. So, just to reiterate, I'm largely playing devil's advocate by asking the above, but I'm hesitating big time to make big changes to my rented living room too.

Check this out: [url="http://www.headfonia.com/superlux-hd668b/"]http://www.headfonia.com/superlux-hd668b/[/url] Thomann do them for around £25. I've got the Superlux HD662F studio headphones and they actually match my M-audio BX5As very well. The M-audios are budget monitors of course but that review of the 668Bs is convincing me to grab a pair. Either that, or I'm gonna look a the Studiospares that 51m0n uses. (Or maybe I should just use mine a lot more and get used to them...)

Moveable pickups on rails? Just a thought I had late last night!

So a couple of these in each corner would do the job? [url="http://www.builders-express.co.uk/product_25387_Rockwool+Roll+Insulation.aspx?gclid=CO6PjqbnrrgCFdPItAodwTwAvw"]http://www.builders-express.co.uk/product_25387_Rockwool+Roll+Insulation.aspx?gclid=CO6PjqbnrrgCFdPItAodwTwAvw[/url]

Shame you can't wire it up and put strings on and move the back pickup around to find the sweet spot. I'd probably got for one of the more forward positions you're going for to get rid of some of the weakness of a soloed bridge pickup. Good call I think.

I'm seriously thinking about buying this (it comes as a set of two) instead of making my own bass trap. I'm pathetically hopeless at any sort of DIY... [url="http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/music-store-absorber-set-corner-anthracit--200614"]http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/music-store-absorber-set-corner-anthracit--200614[/url] Any thoughts on this being a false economy? It's so cheap it can't really be all that good can it?

Didn't get a chance to do something this month but I'm definitely gonna listen to them all and vote. I've had a sneaky peak at a couple and yeah, this just gets better and better each month!

I'll be ordering a new set of Overwater lights for my classic J soon and once they're on I'll be sending you 3-4 sets of old ones. Still some life left in them. Probably more for funk than punk at the moment though And well done to the guys at Overwater for sending you a couple of boxes full!

Rickenbacker and Rockingbetter. There, someone said it

I'd get your desk off the ceiling first! (Or in other words, your photo's upside down.)

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1373301003' post='2135864'] Cones really, the thing is sound below 150Hz is omnidirectional, but you havent got the space in there to stick anything up capable of dealing with any reflections that low anyway, so if it isnt straight from the cone you cant hope to do much to sort it. Does that make sense? [/quote] Yep, makes sense, cheers. So I may or may not need more acoustic treatment based on whether I can see any cones in the mirror. So for now, I just need a bass trap. I wonder if I can hang a duvet over something like Lurkalot's doing... (at least until I can get/make a bass trap).

I'll do that next (once I find a friend, by which I mean, they're all at work at the moment!). So am I looking out for any part of the speaker or just the cones? For example if I can see the side or back of one do I still need to chuck an acoustic pad up there?

Step 1 complete: [attachment=138599:newsetup.jpg] It takes up much more room so I'll look at getting a corner desk like Ian suggested. One thing I have to watch out for is getting one with enough space for my full tower PC - that's the aircraft carrier sized thing on the bottom right. Off for a listen to some tracks with (what I thought was) good stereo effects now

Righto, I'll get cracking with this then. I'll start with moving the desk. Out of interest, does this look any good? [url="http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/dv-studio-acoustic-treatment-bundle--201753"]http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/dv-studio-acoustic-treatment-bundle--201753[/url] Oh, and sorry for all the questions (but hopefully others will be thinking of the same ones) but if you can see my speaker setup (Tannoy on the bottom, then an acoustic foam isolator pad, then my BX5a) - is this something that needs tackling? I do have another pair of those isolation pads.